Friday, March 30, 2012

Usually I would have isolated the single bloom... eliminating the distraction of the other stems and leaves. But there are always distractions in our path; things we have to either step around or leave alone and look past to see where we're headed. Traffic. Life traffic. Eyes ahead and hands on the wheel.

Monday, March 19, 2012

One more before I put the slides away for a while. I have found that going through these slides has begun to make me feel sad. I woke up one morning and 'saw' my life as a flip-book. You know the ones where you flip through the pages and it looks like a movie. I saw those who have died, as well as the births, friends, travel, school, jobs, houses, cars that make up my life. So, I'm putting the slides aside... for now at least.

As for this photo, I remember that air mattress - it was army green. And we always took a brown army blanket to sit on.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

I now have in my possession, boxes and boxes of my father's 35mm slides. In this post not enough photos, I lamented that I couldn't find old photos of Christmas mornings, vacations, etc. from my childhood. Well, I have them now. I've only gone through a few hundred slides (and scanned less than 20!) so far and I'm already feeling overwhelmed. I'm finding it difficult to stay in the present, with so many memories coming into sharp focus.

They haven't been stored in the best of conditions, so humidity, heat and age have left their mark on many of them. But I'm having a great time... I just need to slow down a little. :)

Here we are in front of our vacation cottage at the New Jersey shore. My older sister (center) died at age twenty-four, so this is a rare photo of the three of us. I hope to find many more in the remaining boxes.

Thursday, March 01, 2012

Tulips and ladybugs... well, one ladybug at least. I was feeling as though I had done too many tulip shots, though I never tire of finding a new view of their graceful curves. Then this ladybug went walking across my window (inside). Not one to touch bugs, I encouraged it into a cup and then into the interior of a tulip. It cowered down at the very base, half-hidden beneath the stamen. I took a few shots of that spotted shell, barely visible. And then it began to climb up along the petals. As I began shooting again, flash firing, it turned and headed back down to safety. I figured this was the best shot I was going to get and so I set it free outdoors. Ahhhh, Spring... and the tales the ladybugs tell.